


gym rats

by pageandpetals



Series: Uni AU: Baekhyun/Chanyeol [1]
Category: EXO (Band), K-pop
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-23
Updated: 2014-03-23
Packaged: 2019-04-26 17:49:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14407308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pageandpetals/pseuds/pageandpetals
Summary: Baekhyun has trouble focusing at the gym.





	gym rats

**Author's Note:**

> [twitter](http://twitter.com/pageandpetals) | [cc](http://curiouscat.me/pageandpetals)

_4:53_ , the timer ticks down as Baekhyun huffs and puffs and jogs along on the treadmill. He glances around the too-warm fitness center, eyes flicking from the pair of girls practicing their sun salutes on the raised terrace to his right, to the group of rowers meeting for their afternoon lifting session on the left side of the gym.

Baekhyun takes a swig of water and stifles a little groan as the incline increases for the last few minutes of his run. He considers distracting himself with the large TV screens placed at intervals along the wall, but all they play is Fox News and reruns of _Ellen_ ; not exactly inspiring.

He glances back at the rowers, spread out across the assortment of resistance machines, snatching barbells off the racks while others do squat lunges across the length of the gym. He spies one familiar face laughing at something his teammate says before he turns to adjust the weights on the large barbell hanging over one of the benches.

Park Chanyeol looks simultaneously attractive and ridiculous with that focused expression on his face; but then, these kinds of discrepancies are part and parcel of the enigma that is Chanyeol. His nose scrunches as he threads the stoppers onto each end of the barbell, and someone nearby must have said something funny to him because he guffaws, his face contorting into the sort of expression only a mother could love.

(Baekhyun still thinks it’s endearing.)

But then Chanyeol turns and stretches his arms over his head, lats rippling along his back, before he sits down on the bench and calls for one of his teammates to spot him, and Baekhyun steps on the edge of the treadmill and nearly faceplants when Chanyeol lifts the weight out of its groove and slowly begins to press the barbell.

In the interest of his own safety, Baekhyun stops his workout a minute early and chugs half his water bottle as he tries not to blatantly stare at Chanyeol’s straining biceps. A vision of Chanyeol pushing him up against the locker room wall and holding him there as they furiously make out flashes through his mind unbidden, and he gingerly steps down from the treadmill, yanking his earbuds out as he goes.

The drinking fountain seems like a safe place to shake off those pesky sweaty locker room fantasies, considering refilling his water bottle requires him to look in the opposite direction from where the rowing team is lifting, but what he doesn’t anticipate is a deep voice greeting him just before the water reaches the top of the bottle.

“Hi, Baekhyun!”

Baekhyun turns around and spills water all over his t-shirt. “ _Jesus_.”

“Shit, I didn’t mean to startle you,” Chanyeol says, tugging up the end of his tank top to wipe the sweat from his forehead, offering Baekhyun a peek at his lightly defined abs. He is suddenly thankful and yet deeply regretful that he and Chanyeol live on different floors in the dorm and he’s never had to see Chanyeol walking to the showers in nothing but flip flops and a towel. He wonders how obvious it would look if he started using the first-floor men’s room more often and begins to contemplate potential excuses: someone’s having sex in the showers, the toilets are clogged, someone threw up last night and no one cleaned it up…

Chanyeol drops his shirt and gestures at the water fountain. “Can I…”

It takes Baekhyun a moment to register that Chanyeol is politely asking him to get out of the way. “Oh. Yeah. You probably need it more than I do, you guys probably work out a lot harder than I do.”

“Spying on us?” Chanyeol laughs, ducking his head to gulp down the lukewarm water streaming from the spigot.

Baekhyun takes the opportunity to count the little beads of sweat dotting the back of Chanyeol’s neck before he realizes he is standing _entirely_ too close and takes a step back just in time for Chanyeol to straighten up and turn around.

“What? No,” Baekhyun snorts, laughing nervously. “Working out is just boring, my eyes wander, there’s nothing good on TV—“

“Yeah, yeah,” Chanyeol smirks, pushing his sweaty hair out of his face with one hand. He glances around. “Coach is probably going to get on my ass for slacking,” he adds, and Baekhyun thinks he detects a note of dismay in Chanyeol’s voice, although he can’t quite pinpoint whether or not it’s because he has to stop talking to Baekhyun.

“Well,” Baekhyun says, passing his water bottle back and forth between his hands. “I guess I’ll see you later.”

Chanyeol’s face brightens a bit. “Yeah, definitely.” He pauses for a moment, then adds, “Jongdae told me you guys have a concert this weekend?”

Now it’s Baekhyun’s turn to smile. “Yeah. You better come, I’m getting my first solo.”

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Chanyeol says, and the sincerity is so palpable it makes Baekhyun’s chest flutter a little bit. Chanyeol glances over Baekhyun’s shoulder and his face falls a bit. “Damn it, coach is heading over here. I better go, I don’t want you to get an earful from him, too.”

“Well, you can tell him I was being annoying and distracting and you were trying to get away,” Baekhyun says, and Chanyeol smiles in a way that makes Baekhyun want to koala-cling to him for eternity.

“I cannot tell a lie,” he says solemnly, winking at Baekhyun as he turns to walk away. He glances over his shoulder one last time. “See you at dinner, maybe?”

“Yeah,” Baekhyun says, enjoying the way Chanyeol’s shirt shows off his shoulder muscles. “I’ll save you a seat.”

**Author's Note:**

> [Cross-posted from LiveJournal in April 2018; original author's note left as is.]
> 
>  **author's note** : this is [all](http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m5m11yorcb1qmz0jt.jpg) [chanyeol's](http://d3j5vwomefv46c.cloudfront.net/photos/large/707793997.jpg) [fault](http://25.media.tumblr.com/4e7f2a7c0df2597257378c47114ea284/tumblr_n2nsu2kZjq1qb4croo3_1280.jpg). takes place in uni!au (same as filthy, out of my league, in for the night, forthcoming chanyeol-pov baekyeol, forthcoming sehan fic... that i've been working on since december 2012... jesus christ).
> 
> [twitter](http://twitter.com/pageandpetals) | [cc](http://curiouscat.me/pageandpetals)


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